Kathryn Bruner for Wilmington, People Over Politics Ep 1.

For our very first People Over Politics Series, we introduce to you, Kathryn Bruner running for Wilmington City Council. Kathryn has been a repeat guest on our podcast and we have the honor to announce her candidacy for City Council.

Our People Over Politics Series focuses on the person running for office NOT the party affiliation or policies they run on. Our mission at Whiskey & Wisdom is to share stories that bring us together over tearing us apart.

For this special episode we were sippin' on Kentucky Owl Confiscated

www.kathrynbrunerforwilmington.com

Transcript

Tyler: 0:32

Welcome back to Whiskey and Wisdom everyone. I am Tyler, y'all. And this is my co-host, Chris Kellum. And we bring on, katherine Bruner? Yes. For the third time now, but this time we are going to give the official introduction. Mm-hmm. Of Katherine Meet Katherine Bruner, a decorated United States Coast Guard veteran, a small business owner, a local leader in Wilmington, North Carolina. Katherine has served her country and is now serving her community as a. For the Wilmington City Council during her service in the United States Coast Guard, Katherine was recognized by the President of the United States for her search and rescue efforts with the H M S Bounty. She has been recognized with her community as a woman to watch by Wilma Magazine, the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, top 100 Star News and Chamber of Commerce, 40 under 40 and Fire five magazines, women of Wilm. This is a lot to read, huh? You have a lot going on. You not to read all that at all. You just have a lot of accomplishments. Katherine has built her network nationally with the military community as a city leader for Bunker Labs and internationally with her real estate travels and offense ACO across the globe. Living, working in, volunteering in Wilmington. Catherine understands the essential needs of her community and the resources available to address public concerns. I feel

Kathryn Bruner: 1:55

like half of your podcast just tuned out.

Tyler: 1:57

Well, I had to read the full thing because you did not. I was just like, here's

Chris: 2:00

some ideas. So, so here, tldr, Catherine's Z. What's tldr? Too long didn't read. Oh, you've never heard that? No. Oh yeah. I love those things. I'm an old lady. Or T L D L. Technically too long. Didn't listen. Catherine served in the United States coast. So she's a veteran for all of us. Cool people. She moved in lives here in Wilmington? Yes. She, so she lives here in Wilmington now. Mm-hmm. Part of the time, if not most of the time. She's always traveling. Not anymore. I'm here. See? So she enjoyed life. Has a lot of businesses, has been recognized by multiple different organizations that aren't all connect.

Kathryn Bruner: 2:38

I love how he brings it back to like the real world,

Chris: 2:40

right? I'm like, I mean, you can get a lot of accolades from this. Like, oh hey, but they're all the same people saying the same thing pretty much. Mm-hmm. She's gotten accolades from people all over the world. Thank you. So, I applaud and now she's bringing this accolades and the knowledge to do something for the Wilmington area. Correct. For City

Kathryn Bruner: 2:59

Council?

Tyler: 2:59

Yep. Yeah. Before we get too far into that, we got a special bottle of Conta, Kentucky Al Confiscated, because it's one of Catherine's favorites, but she is doing phase one of 75 hard again, two. Just

Kathryn Bruner: 3:13

found out that I failed.

Tyler: 3:14

But yeah, second time around. I've been failing FaceTime apparently. So she's not drinking with us for a third time on the podcast, even though we brought her favorite bourbon. But it's okay. Thank you. Yeah, no problem.

Kathryn Bruner: 3:28

I realized when we were messaging that, it's literally almost to the day one year since I was on here. Yeah. As soon as

Tyler: 3:34

you brought it up, I was like, oh, that's right. How crazy

Kathryn Bruner: 3:36

is that fest? It's right after his life last year. Yeah. You guys have done so much since then. Oh my goodness. I can't believe all the people you've had on in the last year.

Tyler: 3:44

It's been crazy. It's been fun though. Yeah,

Chris: 3:46

it has been fun. I'm super proud of you guys. Yeah, I'm surprised all the liquor. I've drank that too.

Tyler: 3:51

Enough about us. Tell us about your new adventure going for Wilmington City Council.

Kathryn Bruner: 3:57

So I know that you guys we talked a little bit about the beginning of the year I was going to do a global real estate tour. Mm-hmm. And I was super excited about it. This last year, I actually had the privilege of going to five different countries and 15 different states and Oh wow. I got to meet a bunch of real estate agents and different developers in different areas, even in Italy and New York and stuff. And so I was going to take those connections I made and do. National Tour with my real estate company, but spending some more time in Wilmington in the last year and getting to meet other people that are part of the city council. It just made me realize that we need more people that are willing to step up and make a difference. And if I'm gonna work really hard and wanna work really hard for the city I live in. And so I've decided to run for city council.

Tyler: 4:40

That's amazing. Good for you.

Chris: 4:41

As a layman who just lives in the city and has no idea what any of that just meant. What does our city council actually do?

Kathryn Bruner: 4:51

Honestly, that's a great question because when I first got involved, I knew that city council was local government, but I didn't quite understand. And a lot of it is really just basically any type of government that's in the city limits, the city council gets to vote on and decide and oversee whether it's. The budget or zoning or development or traffic plans, growth plans, things like that. So a lot of the things that, you know, you see going on in the news locally or as you're driving around town, city Council has their hands on anything within the city limits, pretty much. Hmm.

Tyler: 5:24

So what did you see going on? Or who did you, or is there any, anyone that you talked to that made you decide, you know what, this is for me, this is what I need to do now.

Kathryn Bruner: 5:34

So I, I got asked to run for city council and I initially had said no just because I didn't fully understand what it was either, cuz you know, I was mm-hmm. Blaming myself. Mm-hmm. But the more I got involved and started volunteering and understanding what was happening in the community, the more I realized, like I said earlier, that I, I wanted to be part of the hard work. Mm-hmm. For me, I was raised by a single. And my mom worked three jobs when I was a kid. Yeah. And my little sister and I had a lot of chores and stuff that we had to do growing up. And my mom called us Three Musketeers and mm-hmm. A lot of our neighbors and her friends and stuff like that were my aunts and uncles that kind of helped raise us. And so that saying about like, it takes a village to raise a child, I really got to learn that. But in, in experiencing the hard work that we had to get through to just to get from A to B, It kind of gave me a sense of responsibility in life. Right? And I think that's really why I joined the military and now why I have that same drive to wanna serve my community and be a city council person is because I was raised in that environment of if it takes a village, and I realize that as a community and as a culture in America, we're kind of losing that. Sense of individual responsibility. And I want to, you know, take responsibility for myself. I don't wanna just talk about the problems. I wanna be a part of the solution. Right. And I feel like even in a small sense, like not everybody needs to run for office if they wanna do something, but even like going through your grocery store, if you see somebody that just like leaves a cart in the aisle, instead of chastising them, realize maybe they're having a bad day and just do your part and take that cart and go put it back. And I feel like if we all start taking those little steps, it's how we can build our community back and be that village.

Tyler: 7:11

Yeah. I love it kind of goes back to what we talked about at a podcast before where Gandhi said, be the change you wanna see in the world. Exactly.

Chris: 7:20

So you've traveled the world, like we mentioned. And you did start your global tour. I did.

Kathryn Bruner: 7:27

The DC woman was so great. It was so much fun. I met so many amazing people.

Chris: 7:31

See, and that's what, that's what I'm here for is to ask you traveled and saw places. And I know you've been to other places since we last had you on, what made you want to put your roots down and help Wilmington? Because I know you have other spots that you had looked at too.

Kathryn Bruner: 7:48

So when I first got orders to get stationed here, when I was in the military, I cried. I didn't know, I didn't know what Wilmington, North Carolina was. I'm from Northern California and which is a very country part of California. And when I was told I was getting stationed, I had never even heard of Wilmington, and that was back in 2010. Mm-hmm. And I remember driving down I 40 and it was in the fall and getting to see all of the colors and the trees mm-hmm. And crossing into the city limits of Wilmington. The first thing I saw was a lifted truck drive by with an American flag on the back. And I was like, wait, I'm home. This, this looks like red in California. I swear. Then realizing not only was the community so similar to where I grew up, but then we were right by the beach. Yep. And then when I got out of the military, I had the opportunity to get involved with different businesses and in just like Tyler, I mean, I had my hands and everything was volunteering and everything was involved as many networking groups as possible with the chamber and every, everything. But the community supported me in helping me grow my business. They made me feel like I was at home, and I've never lost that sense of belonging. And it's, it's the people here. I'll never leave Wilmington because I love this community.

Tyler: 9:01

That's awesome. I love that. So what makes you feel like you're different than anyone else that's on the board right now?

Kathryn Bruner: 9:11

I wouldn't say necessarily that I'm different because we, we have a great city council right now. Mm-hmm. I would say that I'm a great candidate, but one of the things I feel like a lot of people don't realize about Wilmington is that the city council is the face of Wilmington. Right. When a new company comes here or a developer needs to make a change, or a business owner here in town wants to keep their doors open, the face of Wilmington, they see as the city council. Mm. And I feel like that face needs to be compassionate and empathetic, but also professional and authoritative. And I know I can be that face. Yeah. And that's what I'm looking forward to. That's

Tyler: 9:44

great. I think you fit in great doing that.

Chris: 9:47

So compassionate, empathetic, and authoritative. Very interesting. I was just sitting there, I was like, these are all words like you hear in general from like people who are in the military. Is that something you learned from being in the military or from like your aunts and uncles, like being like raised and grown up?

Kathryn Bruner: 10:08

I think it's from life experience that the, one of the first questions you asked is, why am I running for city council? And when I got my real estate license, like a lot of people would say, and I can't remember if I've already said this or, but what's the market like? People always ask that and my automatic. Need when I first got my real estate license was, oh, I have to answer that question perfectly. I need to, and 11 seconds give you like the best pitch. And so I looked up on YouTube, I was like, okay, how do I sound like I know what I'm doing? And it's the same thing in now people ask, you know, why are you running? And my first instinct is like, oh, well how do I sound like I'm the best candidate? I am the best candidate and I know that, and just believing in myself and being present and staying engaged and being empathetic to others and making that eye contact. Mm-hmm. And hearing people, people need that sense of connection. And I feel like, especially with Covid and how loud everybody got on the opposite sides, our biggest problem was saying them or they, instead of saying we and realizing that people just wanna be seen. So I think to answer your question, it's it's life experience. I know that when I talk to somebody, and then when I engage with, so when I engage with someone, I wanna hear her or be feel heard, and I want to know that that person is actually listening to me. I wanna feel like I matter. Yeah. And so my biggest goal I think in moving forward as city council is I want people to feel like they matter. I want them to feel heard, and I want them to feel like the city is theirs. That it's not, you know, the government against the people. It's the people are the government.

Tyler: 11:33

I like that. Yeah. How do you plan on reaching out to the community and letting them know that, because that, that doesn't sound like a typical political type. Politician these days, right? Is like we, we want to say we together, us. Yeah. You don't hear that anymore, right? So how do you take that and you bring that to the community to show them that you mean it?

Kathryn Bruner: 11:52

To be honest, I could use all the help I could get to anybody that listens to this. Anybody that you know has met Tyler or met Chris or met me, it's gonna be a big mission in a way that I have. I honestly, I, that's why I almost didn't wanna run is because it seems so overwhelming that the idea, there's 120,000 people in Wilmington. Mm-hmm. And I have to somehow reach all of them. Like, tell them what my message is and you know, present myself in the best way possible. So my goal is to ask anybody and everybody, if you can't donate, volunteer. If you can't volunteer, tell a friend. If you can't tell a friend, invite me to an event. If you can't invite me to an event, Yell at me. Tell me why you like or don't like Wilmington. Reach out to me. Share this podcast. Yeah, share this podcast. I mean, at the end of this, obviously I'll tell you guys what my platforms are, you can reach me at, but just reach out to me like if you think that there's something that needs to be brought to the city council. If you think that there's something that we need to be focusing on in Wilmington, I think I just want. Reach as many people as possible and not just tell them my story, but learn theirs so that way I can make sure I'm representing Wilmington in the best way possible.

Chris: 13:00

So, Chris, being the, the Bear Poker that I am, please do. Here, let's do this because you look similar to all of the other people who are running. Why should someone like me actually vote for you?

Kathryn Bruner: 13:18

That is a really great question, and I immediately wanna, I'm just gonna be super honest. Yeah. Why would you not vote for me? Because I don't look like you.

Chris: 13:27

I mean, because you look like a very pretty lady. Who looks like a lot of other people who are already on city council. What do you mean? I mean, I just assume like a pretty blonde, white chick. Why should I vote for you versus voting for a black Dude?

Kathryn Bruner: 13:43

That's a really good question, and I'm really glad that you actually said it straight like that you, because a lot of people just say they don't, they don't look like me. And honestly, I might not be the best person for you to vote for, but fortunately, there's more than one seat available so you can vote. At least three people in this next election. Yeah. And what, while I do believe that somebody that's been through life and that looks similar to you, might have like more empathy and understanding of what your experiences are, I don't know if that person is necessarily gonna listen. And that's the one thing I wanna offer you, is that I'm gonna listen.

Chris: 14:17

Okay. I mean, I, I thought that was a, a decent question. I've talked to people, I like it. Yeah. They're like, she's so. And like she seems like she'd be rude and I wouldn't like her. But then I listened to her episode and she seemed like really, really down. So like, I want people to realize, like, just because she's a very pretty person and there's a ton of photos on the internet that she, she looks very pretty. She is a down to earth. She's not just a political figure, to be honest.

Kathryn Bruner: 14:44

That's, that's a really scary question because when you ask somebody something like that, automatically, I assume I'm gonna offend you with no matter what I say, bent in. The reality is like trying to go back to the fact of it's, it's all a we. Mm-hmm. I, I really, really, my biggest goal is if the only thing I can do is get a messaged out while I'm doing this is, so let's break the divide. I want it to feel like I'm gonna advocate for you just as much as he. Nice.

Tyler: 15:08

I love that. That's something I've been talking about too, is just, especially after going through Covid and Wilmington and everything, that the reason why I love Wilmington and why I've stayed here all of these years is the community, the the we part of Wilmington, right? Yeah. And just how everyone comes together. We have hurricanes come through here all the time and no one cares what each other's political party is. We all get together and we clean up the town. We make it just as beautiful, if not more than last time, and we keep on trucking with it. And there's been a lot of nastiness that's been going around lately, and there's no reason for it to be well. And I think

Kathryn Bruner: 15:40

that's one of the scary things that people don't realize is running for city council in Wilmington, North Carolina versus Raleigh. It's a night and day difference because, oh yeah. I mean, during Florence in 2017, we were an island. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 4 21 got knocked out. And all of your access of being able to leave here, I mean, we had C one 30 s coming and dropping. Yeah. Like goods to us. And there's a lot of things that you have to take into consideration when you're agreeing to a plan to approve it in Wilmington, because not only are we looking at growth from an aspect of trying to grow our population, We need to look at whether or not, you know, there's enough land to be able to percolate when we do have those flooding issues and things like that. Mm-hmm. And when people talk about affordable housing, one of the things that people don't realize is that most of the nurses, I mean, you're married to a nurse mm-hmm. So you understand, but the first responders, the firefighters, the law enforcement, a lot of them can't afford to live in the city limits of Wilmington. So when something like that happens, they're either. Stuck on the outskirts and they can't get in to help people. Mm-hmm. Or two, they're literally doing back to back shifts to where they are sleeping in the hospitals. They're sleeping at the fire stations. Yeah. Because they can't get home to their families because we're isolated. And so things like that are the bigger picture things that people need to take into consideration. And when I was in the Coast Guard, literally all I did was emergency response and search and rescue. And I got to experience a lot of the behind the scenes of Wilmington that I never realized now as a business woman was gonna be something that impact impacted me every day. Wow.

Tyler: 17:08

Hmm. That's interesting. Never would've thought about that either.

Chris: 17:11

Sorry. I was just like, you know, that's. Never thought about those things. Right. Mean

Tyler: 17:16

things that we're grateful for, that we don't have to think about. Right. Because they, it is being run relatively well and everything and having the right people in the right places at the right time. Well, the

Kathryn Bruner: 17:25

first city council meeting I went to this year, we had a Navy captain that came and presented because he wanted to have Fleet Week as part of our AZA festival. Mm-hmm. And most people, if you hear that, that you're like, oh, that's so exciting. Like let's have a Navy ship come in here and you're making the faces that I was, I was making as I was sitting there. And to me I was like, okay, well now we have a Navy vessel that's going to be coming into the port, and so we are about to increase our terrorist threat level, which means we're actually gonna actually have resources from, you know, our local law enforcement, things like that. That'll have to be taken away from the normal Azalia festival to be able to escort that boat in. Plus we're gonna have more people that are gonna be at the P like, yeah, my brain went down a whole other track. Yes. To where. It sounds really fun and there are probably positive ways to do it, but there's a lot more you really have to consider in saying yes or no to something like that. Yeah.

Chris: 18:11

I've sadly hit that point in life where like everyone's like, oh, you know, when you become an adult, it's really fun. But reality, I think turning into an adult is when you have to assess situations more than just a yes or no. Yeah, because that hit me and I was like, as soon as you said that, I was like, I didn't even go as deep as like the threat level, but my brain was like, first off, that's a lot of people. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And then if they haven't docked in a while, their family's gonna want to come here too. Then you already have traffic issues and you gotta, but I like that, like you have to, you're already seeing bigger picture versus like the yes or no. Because a lot of times in the politics and on the news and everyth. All they post is just the headline and then someone said no to this, or they said yes to that. And I think people gotta realize like nothing is ever just black and white

Kathryn Bruner: 19:04

anymore. Well, I think that was another, you know, privilege from being in the military is getting to see things that maybe a lot of people don't. And in the Coast Guard, when you call you. You're mayday at one o'clock in the morning. The person answering the radio, or the person that's driving the boat to come out to your search and rescue case at one o'clock in the morning is usually the newest person. Hmm. They're the freshest pair, pair of eyes. They're the most driven and they have the most fear. And for me, I feel like that that's gonna be me when I go to the city council is that I am so afraid of failure. And that my eyes are fresh, that I, I plan on just like running through everything and figuring out all the problems that we can solve and getting involved as much as possible. And I just wanna work as hard as I can.

Tyler: 19:51

So that's something that we see a lot of people going in have the same ideas, right? They have like the super gungho ability and they're like, you know what? I'm gonna come in, I'm gonna ask all the questions, and I'm gonna go in fearlessly. Sometime throughout the whole campaign process, it, it either fizzles out or they get beaten down or something happens. Do you have, have you thought about that? And then have you thought about ways that you're gonna kind of combat that and stay true to your

Kathryn Bruner: 20:16

roots? So that was actually one of the reasons I initially was thinking about not running for city councilors, because when you think about politics, it was kind of like what we were talking about earlier. Mm-hmm. People get on autopilot and they just get these key phrases that they have to say. The other thing too is since being out of the military, I've, I've really been able to let my guard down. I've, I've become sensitive. I'm, I'm kind of girly. I, I wasn't so much in the military. I was really hard and I felt like I was gonna lose my sense of purpose because I was gonna try and be somebody I thought I had to be to get elected. Mm-hmm. And then it clicked for me, and I realized that my slogan for my campaign is Purpose Over Politic. Yeah. And my goal is to make sure that I keep my sense of purpose and keep engaged. That exactly what you're talking about of what happens to everybody is exactly what I want to not become a part of. I wanna stay as present. As as possible. Yeah. And so, I think it's just, you know, being authentic and trying to stay real. And when people tell me, oh, you should, there's been a couple times already where people have said, well, don't say that cuz it's not what the public wants to hear or don't dress this way because it's not what the public wants to see. Or, oh, you're too pretty. So you need to, you knowland yourself to be able to get you know, elected. Mm-hmm. And for me it's, if I. You know, tone myself down or I don't say certain things or I behave in a certain manner, or they're not electing me. They're electing a version of me that I'm presenting. Right. And so I just plan to be as raw as possible. And if I get elected, that is so wonderful. But if not, I can know that I was my truest self and I stuck to my purpose.

Tyler: 21:49

That's amazing.

Chris: 21:50

I love that. I feel like that's like being in a relationship. Cuz joining the city council, you're in a relationship with the town. That's true. Yeah. Everyone puts on that front on like Tinder or Bumble or all those apps. It's like, oh hey, this is. In this, in your, you always have a face until you actually get into the true relationship. And then you're like, Hmm, yeah, I'll, I'll go back to my normal self.

Kathryn Bruner: 22:12

Well, even, I mean, for a job interview, this is what this is, this is a job interview. Mm-hmm. I'm asking Wilmington, North Carolina to hire me. And in order to do that, I, I need to be exactly the person that I'm gonna be once I'm elected, not the version of me that I want you to think that you're getting. Right.

Chris: 22:27

I love that. So Chris being me, also do it.

Tyler: 22:30

I get excited what he says. You know, it's gonna be the most off the wall question. Yes,

Chris: 22:34

yes. City council doesn't get paid that much. No. So like you still have a real life and a real job outside of the

Kathryn Bruner: 22:42

city council. Oh yeah. I've run my company and work for city council. Yep. Does that stress

Chris: 22:47

you out at all?

Kathryn Bruner: 22:49

So, I have a problem because I did search and rescue on the Coast Guard. I performed best under. And when I am not under a lot of pressure, I feel like I get bored. Mm-hmm. And so for anybody that has experienced adrenaline when having to do, jump out of a plane search from rescue 9 1 1 operator, it's almost like, have you seen the movie Limitless When he takes that pill and then everything, okay. That's exactly what happens for me is when I experience a certain level of pressure, I see so much clear. And so, because a lot of what I already do in my business overlaps with City Council, I have so much gratitude for the opportunity to be more involved with the city because it's only gonna make me a better businesswoman and better city council candidate. Hmm.

Tyler: 24:01

Now I completely understand too, it's one of those things like idle hands or devil's work type of thing, where if I'm not keeping myself. Kind of going and pushing to the next thing and just staying on task, then it just kind of crumbles out. Yeah. Why

Kathryn Bruner: 24:15

were the weirdos that keep getting on 75 hard? Hmm. Yeah,

Tyler: 24:18

exactly. Yeah.

Chris: 24:20

See, I love y'all. I cannot keep going like I will do 75 hard again. We'll probably end up doing it in the fall. Yeah. But I. It's not one of those, oh, I need to go back and do it again. I have enough stuff.

Kathryn Bruner: 24:35

It has nothing to do with fitness for me. Right. It's when I lose my connection to myself because 75 hard makes you double down on you and being accountable to yourself and showing up for yourself, and I feel like as a generation in general, we don't do that enough. Mm-hmm.

Tyler: 24:51

Completely agree with that. What are you planning on doing to reach out to. As all of us millennials here, what do you plan on doing to reach the the Gen Xers, the boomers, the, I guess the few Gen Zers that are able to vote these days? What kind of brings everyone together?

Kathryn Bruner: 25:08

So I'm gonna do my best to host events and you guys will always be invited and informed of that. I feel like I engage best in person. Yeah. So the more opportunities I connect face to face with people, the better. I would really love that. But I'm gonna take AV every avenue possible. My website is gonna come out this coming Friday. Mm-hmm. I'll obviously have social media platforms and mailers. That's one of the big things I've seen as a huge cost for campaigns. So being able to raise enough funds to be able to. Get mail out there to people. And then also if I can raise enough funds to get a billboard and things of that nature, I'm, I'm just gonna try in every way possible to get my name out.

Chris: 25:44

Yeah, that's great. So if you get yard signs, are you gonna make sure you pull'em up after the election? Heck yes.

Kathryn Bruner: 25:49

You get line for, that's a, that's a responsibility as a realtor, litter to have to go back to, you know, each property and do that. So it's just something I'm already naturally gonna do. So, plus I'm gonna have lots of volunteers, right. You guys are gonna go over and help me.

Chris: 26:01

To me, just, it's always funny. I look and I'm like, I first off 90% positive that you're only allowed to put it in like someone's property that they own. You shouldn't be putting'em down like the medians all over the world because once they end up in the median, they're there and I'm like, oh, it's Jan. Wait, there's not enough. We know what a pet

Kathryn Bruner: 26:20

peeve is for Tyler, so we, we

Tyler: 26:21

have to go out there. Yeah, I still want them to be run over by the lawnmowers. So I'll let you do that. We'll just

Kathryn Bruner: 26:27

have to clean it up after. Okay, that's fine.

Chris: 26:29

So you mentioned earlier, There's how many seats up for grabs. Okay. So, and how many people are on the city council?

Kathryn Bruner: 26:38

Seven. I believe. You believe? I believe because, oops, let me think. Yeah, I'm just gonna go with seven. I'm not gonna sit here and count. I'm

Chris: 26:46

gonna go with seven. I mean, it can't be an even number. They would never allow a tie. Yes, no. When is your election? November. Do you guys have

Kathryn Bruner: 26:55

primaries? No. It's non Parson.

Chris: 26:58

Okay. I was gonna ask that. I'm like, cuz that's the thing cuz we had somebody else on a while back and there were like, you want to focus on your local government and I don't understand why local government is red or blue or yellow or anything. I'm like, they should just be the people helping you in your community. So I didn't realize it was nonpartisan. Yep. That's why she's wearing black. You guys.

Tyler: 27:21

It's cause I wanted to match color. Yeah. In the wall. Right.

Chris: 27:25

And that's why I'm not wearing black. Well, cuz

Kathryn Bruner: 27:28

you're festive. It's a Zel Festival week. You're wearing what you should be. Honestly, we're slacking. Yeah, it's

Chris: 27:33

true mm-hmm. Your website goes

Kathryn Bruner: 27:36

out Friday and it's everything is gonna be Catherine Brenner for Wilmington, Instagram, Facebook, website. Katherine Brunner for Wilmington

Chris: 27:44

Friday.

Tyler: 27:45

14th when this podcast comes out. Oh, okay. Yeah. Special episode everyone today.

Chris: 27:51

I was like, wait, cuz when you say Friday to me, I'm just sitting there and I'm like, wait, is it Friday the 27th? Is it the 19th? I just always ask. It's the 14th. Yeah. Yeah. So Catherine Bruner for Wilmington. Mm-hmm. That's a very, we will have that in the show notes because, trust me, I can't

Kathryn Bruner: 28:08

spell Catherine. It's a K and they always say Brunner with two Ns. It's. Don't you have a Y in there too? Oh, in the cake, Catherine. Yeah.

Chris: 28:15

All right. Questions. What do you guys got for me? All right, so question for you. Will you always have heels on when you're out in public? Really?

Kathryn Bruner: 28:25

Yes. Actually I'm barefoot. But right now, yes,

Chris: 28:29

it's, it's a,

Tyler: 28:30

you can't touch the ground though. Yes.

Chris: 28:33

It's a running gag that every female that I meet in a business setting always has heels on. I personally am in a business setting all the time and I'm like, you should just be you. I don't see why you have to hurt your feet wearing heels, cuz those are not comfort. Do I know this personally? No, because I can't find heels that'll fit me. Would you do it though? Yeah. Hmm. Have you not? So there's the walk mile in my shoes event that goes on like every year, and I'm always like, I'll do that. But I just can't find shoes that are big enough.

Tyler: 29:05

That's the excuse. I'm sure we could find them anyway. Oh, anything since this will probably be one of the first things that goes out, not from you going to the public, right. Is there anything that you would like to share to the people that listen? Because in getting few hundred people listening each, each week now, so you have a decent audience that's straight from Wilm. That's

Kathryn Bruner: 29:27

awesome that you guys have grown that much. I'm so excited for you guys. The first couple questions that we asked, we really covered a lot really quickly, and for me, I think my goals are, like I said, the community. Bringing them together, making sure everybody feels like they have a voice. Mm-hmm. Really considering our next generation, our children for the decisions we're making. Like I was talking about, making sure that we have parks in greenery for our right, you know, grandchildren, our grandchildren's grandchildren, and making sure that companies that come here, that they're creating mid-level job opportunities for us. So, you know, our U N C W students can actually stay here mm-hmm. And afford to live in Wilmington. Truly is just sticking to our core values of, as a community, because a lot of people that vacation here, they don't realize, you know, this is, this is also our home and there's that southern charm characteristic that we like about it. We don't wanna be the next Myrtle Beach. Mm-hmm. And just keeping that, just keeping that, that comfort and that feeling that people, you know, experience and why they wanna live here and in doing so is just making sure. We keep our community safe and, you know, keeping crime on the forefront of understanding that people wanna be able to walk through their neighborhoods and mm-hmm. Have their, you know, children be able to ride their bikes outside and feel safe. So taking all of those things into consideration when we're determining the budget and determining the choices of the companies and people that come to Wilmington. Yeah.

Chris: 30:46

I like the, so do you think we need more sidewalks? She was like, I'm gonna get very political. I'm like, no. That was just me just picking on you because I know, I know that city council already has planes in mind for like adding sidewalks and

Kathryn Bruner: 31:01

passing, and the D o T plan is like 20 years out. Mm-hmm. So that's the other thing too, is that like once it gets agreed on, it's for like the next 20 years.

Chris: 31:07

Yes. Which is one of those things I don't think people realize. Yeah. They're like, well, why is the traffic so bad on this side of town? I'm like, Cause they started that plan like eight years ago and then they had to get the funding for it. And then this happened, and then this happened. I just want people to know that it's not your fault on the city council if things don't happen in two days. Things always take time. Well,

Kathryn Bruner: 31:31

I think that that's how kind of the government works in general is that for the protection of the people, not just one person mm-hmm. Is in charge of any decision or just one entity, that it has to go through layers. So sometimes when there's a hiccup, like yes, we are the people you can contact and reach and be able to have those conversations with, but you have to rely on us to be able to advocate for you. Cause that's a process.

Chris: 31:51

Yes. I love that. So Tyler, I have a question that you thought of. What do you consider success inside a city council if you get elected?

Kathryn Bruner: 32:04

So earlier when I was talking about how the city council is, the face of Wilmington, success for me would be a united front. Mm-hmm. To not just be, you know, seven people sitting up there, but seven very different people with different views and different experiences that have a sense of united loyalty to Wilmington and that have come together to work hard to problem solve, to be able to represent our city and work hard for our city in the best means possible. I.

Tyler: 32:32

Yeah. Do you have any plans on when you, when you get elected right to reach out to people that you probably don't agree with more, do you kind of have something in mind that you plan on doing? Or you would hope that would, something would be

Kathryn Bruner: 32:46

accomplished? A thousand percent. That, that's how I was raised. I have family members that are. You know, both sides of the political platform. Mm-hmm. And it was very normal for us on, you know, Easter, which just came up where Christmas was, when we usually spent the most time together for us to have discussions where we didn't necessarily agree with each other. But the nicest part that I've learned over the years of having friends on both sides of the, of the line and having friends from so many different backgrounds and getting to travel so much. When you break people past their fears and their angers, and they can actually start to explain to you like what really matters to them. Mm-hmm. A lot of the time it's the same thing. We wanna feel safe, we wanna feel seen, we wanna feel heard, the, you know, those, those basic things. And being able to break down the seriousness and the sense of competition where, oh, I'm trying to win, and having those hard conversations with people. What, what do you. Right. How, how, how can we find the common ground so that way everybody is getting, you know, the time and the investment that we're supposed to be putting into people.

Tyler: 33:52

Yeah. I think you hit on something really good there too, is just. The main reason why people fear feel angry towards others, just in general, is they, they don't feel like they're being heard. Yeah. So just being able to take the time and reaching out to the community and listening to them, I think is a, is a great platform

Kathryn Bruner: 34:07

to be running on. Right. Well, and anytime, a, a lot of people have warned me that in interviews that you're gonna get really hard questions and people are gonna banter you and people are gonna be mean to. It's not that I ever want somebody to be mean to me, but if you're gonna be mean to me, I hope that I take that energy out of you so you're not mean to somebody else. And for me, I think also being a big sister, that that's always been my sense. Mm-hmm. If I'm just a very protective person, so that way when somebody treats me that way, I'm hoping that I can take it because not everybody can take it. And if there's an opportunity that I can protect somebody else from that burden, that's what I wanna do. Yeah.

Chris: 34:42

Does your sister live in Cali still?

Kathryn Bruner: 34:44

She's actually an organ. She owns a cleaning company up there. My mom raised entrepreneurs. Sounds like it. Yeah.

Tyler: 34:49

Good for her. Your mom's probably very proud. She was

Kathryn Bruner: 34:51

an entrepreneur too. As

Chris: 34:53

long as it's not California still. No.

Kathryn Bruner: 34:55

And hey, the part of Northern California that I'm from is way different from the rest of California. I grew up on a horse farm. Mm-hmm. It was, you know, lifted trucks. I had, you know, cows and chickens. And very, very different than what you think of when you think of like the beach or southern ca.

Tyler: 35:11

So outside of city council and real estate and all the other businesses and networks and stuff, what do you do for yourself besides 75? Hard. Yeah. Besides torture yourself.

Kathryn Bruner: 35:22

A 75 hard. My, my peaceful space is actually I volunteered horse rescue. Yeah. And I grew up with horses, so that's something that, I've always done, and then, you know me, I'm involved in every possible networking group. Mm-hmm. So I, I network for a living and getting to, you know, connect with people and connect in our city is something that I enjoy and have a lot of fun with. And then I'm very obsessed with yoga, so I'm always, yeah. I go to four different studios here in town. Yeah.

Chris: 35:47

Yeah. I mean, yoga, love. I was talking to one of my bartender friends, she's like, I'm a part of three different gym. I'm like, why do you need three? I was like, cuz everyone provides something different. That's so true. Mm-hmm. And I mean, I think that's also the reason why you have more than one person on city Council because like you said, everyone's supposed to provide a different point of view to help get you to what you need to be.

Kathryn Bruner: 36:14

Well and. The dynamic of things that get brought to the city council is so vast that you couldn't expect just one person to know everything. The same city council meeting I was talking about where the Navy captain came, We also had a local nonprofit organization come called Dreams. And when I was part of Leadership Wilmington, I had the privilege of getting to see, you know, what they do and what they're doing for our community. And there was also a developer that came that he was ironically developing two houses down from a house that I had just sold and his. Daughter was living in the house that I sold, so I had the gift of being able to have a personal conversation with him. But it's, there's so much diversity in what gets presented to the city council that there needs to be that level of diversity on the city council. So we can look at it from all different perspectives of trying to problem solve. Oh, for

Chris: 37:04

sure. But real talk. What did you, why do you like Kentucky Owl?

Kathryn Bruner: 37:09

So I've actually changed since I, I know, oh, I still like Kentucky Owl. But I had, I got to try batch nine and batch 10, and like I was telling you, it. I'm more of a wine person. Mm-hmm. But in just January of last year was when I discovered bourbon. And it was this bourbon, but the, I think it was a batch 10, that it almost tastes like unsweetened caramel. It's just that smoothness without a bite that I, you can taste the effort that got put into making it. It's so delicious, I guess you could say.

Tyler: 37:45

I was just curious. Yeah, that does sound good. I don't think I've had that

Kathryn Bruner: 37:48

one. It changed my life cuz I thought this was great and then I tried that and it never gone back. Yep.

Tyler: 37:54

Yep.

Chris: 37:55

Don't worry. That's, that's me with every time we try a new whiskey, I'm like, Ooh, do I need this to go home with me? Or does it need to stay here? But yeah.

Kathryn Bruner: 38:06

Yes. Is there anything I can do for you guys? I know that you have been spending this whole time talking about me, but I'm gonna call you guys out and I know that you need sponsors and that you guys have big goals for what you wanna do with this podcast and that you spend all the time talking about other people. So can I take a second to talk about you guys? Sure. What do

Chris: 38:24

we need? What do you need? Tell me, tell me. We would love for more people to listen to us, okay? Mm-hmm. On the, on the podcast and leave us really great

Kathryn Bruner: 38:32

reviews. Do you have a place where people can leave, like candid feedback that's maybe not a review that they can kind of tell you what would make them listen more?

Tyler: 38:39

Yeah. Instagram more than anything. Instagram or Facebook. If you just do a direct message straight to us. Yeah. That would be fantastic too. Okay. Yeah. That way we can see it, make some changes, do what we need to do. And

Kathryn Bruner: 38:50

if somebody wanted to sponsor. What benefits did they get and how could they reach out to

Tyler: 38:56

Yeah, so it depends on the, the package. Of course. Yeah. But starting out, you get some airtime on the podcast. Yeah. We talk about your business for however long that you wanna pay for. Yeah. And a few social media posts on you and then, The great thing about how our sponsorship works is as we grow, you grow with us. Yeah, so a lot of that sponsorship money, so this is what makes us extremely unique, is that sponsorship money is going straight towards growing the podcast. So if you are on our podcast and our podcast is growing, your reach is growing as well, because we get people that still listen to episode 1, 2, 3, and four. And if you have your episode baked in to any of our podcasts from when you start sponsoring, that's there

Kathryn Bruner: 39:38

forever. So it's a, you know, you scratch your back, they scratch yours, that kind of thing. So that way as each of you get more successful, you both get more successful. Makes sense. Yeah,

Tyler: 39:46

exactly. So if you sponsor us and you say, Hey, you know what? I really want the sponsorship money, almost like a donation to go towards paying for coasters with whiskey and wisdom on it, on the backside of it will have your logo with anyone else you sponsoring with. So your logo will be everywhere that that sponsorship money went. That's awesome. Yeah.

Chris: 40:03

I mean, and I do always have to shout out.

Tyler: 40:06

Yes, sway is doing all of our social media now, making us look much better on Instagram. So it is, it kind of all is more cohesive now. It makes it our life a lot easier. We can actually start reaching out to people and talking to people and helping the, helping the podcast podcast grow a little bit more too. So we've actually hit that critical mass that we needed where We just need the capital to start growing with how many people we have listening.

Kathryn Bruner: 40:30

Well, I feel you cuz I'm right there with trying to figure out how to fundraise. And so if anybody is listening to this, if you guys are enjoying this, please support them. They did not tell me to say this. I just have a lot of love for whiskey

Tyler: 40:41

and wisdom. Thank you. Yes. And you just, you coming on and being willing to. Let us be the first people to interview you as an official candidate for city council. Means a lot to us as well too. And that was something huge that you never had to do for us either, so we appreciate that.

Kathryn Bruner: 40:55

Of course, I, you guys brought out the real in me and that's what I feel like I wanted to show people. Thank you.

Tyler: 41:01

I appreciate

Chris: 41:01

that. So we will have you on again. Oh, there're gonna be,

Tyler: 41:06

no one wants to keep listening to me.

Chris: 41:08

No, no, no. I feel like everyone, like if you have. Everyone grows in life and everything changes. So I feel like people all deserve multiple episodes. I didn't say again as in like in a month or two, but I feel. You know, once you're on the city council we can be like, Hey,

Kathryn Bruner: 41:26

no, cause then you guys are gonna ask me really hard questions and I won't be able to

Chris: 41:29

answer anything. I'll be like, what can you say that's not under an nda? And well, right now I can be

Kathryn Bruner: 41:33

like, I can say anything and then I'm gonna be like, well, so I can't say this because of

Tyler: 41:37

this.

Chris: 41:39

Well see what HA happened was,

Tyler: 41:43

well, since you are writing up on the time now how can everyone reach. Come Friday, which is when this is coming out to support you for city council.

Kathryn Bruner: 41:52

So Katherine Bruner for Wilmington. That's going to be the website. That's going to be Instagram. That's going to be Facebook. And it's Katherine, k a t h r y n, Bruner, b r u n e r four f o r.

Chris: 42:04

Wilmington. You didn't

Kathryn Bruner: 42:05

go for the number four? Yeah. I thought that was a little cheesy. That's why I felt like I had to clarify. It's f o r. Okay. And then obviously if for some reason that's hard to find, Catherine Brunner Realty is still all of my stuff for my work platforms. And you can always reach'em on Instagram there as well. So, and I mean, if I'm not answering, you know, contact Whiskey and wisdom, they'll, they'll respond. We'll put you in the right

Chris: 42:28

direction. Forward it. I love it. But thank you for hopping on here and letting us be the first I.

Kathryn Bruner: 42:35

I appreciate it you guys. Thank you very much. Yeah,

Chris: 42:37

we were definitely way more laid back than a traditional political interview.

Kathryn Bruner: 42:41

That's, that's my goal. I wanna, I wanna keep this level of just vulnerability, authenticity, and be as real as possible so that way other people feel that they can be real with me. For sure.

Chris: 42:52

Love it. Yeah. Thank you guys for listening. Check out Catherine, if you can, or you like her platforms. Do vote for her in November. We have the city council elections. So he's got a voice too.

Tyler: 43:03

Yeah, I can totally, that's, that's the outro voice.

Chris: 43:06

Yes. But yeah. Have a good one, you guys. Thank you. Cheer, cheer. Catch her the next one. Cheer. Cheers. Cheer.